Monday, December 9, 2013

Ceramic Snowflake Tiles

First graders at both Brimfield and Suffield Elementaries are making these neat ceramic snowflake tiles. Miss Ostrowski started these, and they really are turning out great. We talked about symmetry and how snowflakes are all unique. We also pointed out that they are made of 6 spokes. Edward L. Platt is an artist who draws snowflakes that could be referenced during this lesson. The book Snowflake Bentleyis also a great addition!

To make them, the students used various kinds of dry pasta to press into the clay. The pieces that were stuck too far down in the clay to easily remove were burned out when the pieces were bisque firing. I also have some neat skinny marker caps with 6-spoked designs that really look like snowflakes, and I let the kids use those too.

They glazed the tiles with extremely watered down glazes and then I painted them with clear glaze before their final firings.

Thank you! I have a slab roller at both elementaries I where I teach. This year I also ordered a 4 inch tile cutter: https://store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?minisite=10206&item=3025138

Even with these wonderful clay prep tools, these tiles took a lot of prep time. That is by far the biggest draw back to working with slabs of clay.